A UVM blog Phenology Blog

As spring nears in Vermont, we look closely at the new life that is emerging and returning to the area. While observing the Redstone Pines I noticed bids that were forming on the tips of branches on many trees and bushes. I happened to take 2 pictures of buds I thought I recognized.

Here is what I believe to be the bud of a Basswood tree.

And here is what I believe to be the bud of a Red Maple tree.

Along with the buds, I noticed a lot of Robins around. I could tell by their orange chest. It is nice to see the birds slowly returning for the spring. Although I didn’t see any other animals at the time, the snow did allow me to see old tracks. I was not able to tell what animals were leaving these tracks as they were old and I couldn’t even make out any toe marks.

While walking around Burlington trying to find signs of animals I was trying to find evidence of animals you don’t often see. Not the usual squirrel track or a bird. I did find two tracks that I took a picture of.

Here is one of the tracks that I found. It belongs to a whitetail deer. I found this track while walking through the redstone pines. It was a pretty simple identification as there really isn’t anything else in this area that looks similar yo a whitetail deer track.

The other track I found was from a raccoon. It was pretty easy to distinguish that it was a raccoon from their toes/fingers are almost similar to ours in that they have 5 fingers/toes up front and a thumb. I found this track actually like 40 feet outside of the back of my dorm in an open area.

After a while coming back to the Redstone Pines was nice. There was still some snow on the ground and I was able to record some tracks of some animals that passed throough the pines. There haven’t really been any changes to the pines at all since I left, maybe a littel more snow, but that’s about it.

Here are some tracks of a Gray Squirrel I found

And here are some tracks I found of a White Tail Deer

Since the weather has changed here in vermont in the past 2 months, it’s time to record some of the changes that I have noticed since then. Most of the pine needles on the Eatern White Pine have stayed on, but some dead ones have fallen off. The very few deciduous trees that are in the grove have all lost their leaves. It seems that some of the fallen leaves have some holes in them, possibly from smallinsects and decomposers having a snack. The only animal other than various birds that fly around are squirrels. I often see them running after each other leaving lots of tiny tracks in the snow. I’d say the animal activity hasn’t decreased a whole lot, but maybe it will when it gets even colder.

One of the aspects that I enjoyed the most about my phenology location was being able to hang out with friends in a hammock there. It is the perfect place to hang out with friends. I also love the smell of pine trees and it reminds me of our old friends lakehouse in the Adirondacks that we would visit every summer. When we would turn down the long driveway we would roll down the widnows and bring in all the new fresh air and smell of pine. It was everywhere and I loved it. This spot brought back some good memories of a place I loved.

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This new place in Mt. Lafayette in New Hampshire. I went on a hike there and spent a while walking in the woods. this place is different in almost every way. 1, it is a massive elevation difference of roughly 5,000 feet. 2, there is very little life other than the tiny pine trees that are covered in snow and ice. 3, this is not a urban area, there is no one that lives here and there is nothing around it. This is a very harsh environment where not many things can survive. For my gift, I made a small rock cairn (that is hopefully still standing) for people to look at and enjoy.

My experience sitting in the middle of the pines was surreal for about 6 minutes until I heard sirens in the distance from a police car. At that point several people were also walking by making lots of noises. after the sirens went away and the people went away I could her the wind whistling through the trees, the birds chirpping, and squirrels sqeaking. Since my previous visit the pines have stayed the same roughly. Some dead pine needles have been dropping, but the one oak tree in the middle has lost most of its leaves. the temperature has gone down on average and it’s a little cooler.

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